Country diary

The wizened white stump under the fence alongside the car park at Bolderwood scarcely merited a second glance, but the 15cm giant that I recently saw in Ireland certainly did. In peak condition, toppled by its own weight, it lay among leaf litter in a small copse south of Dublin. Its long white thick-flocked stem wore a slimy deep olive collar, at the tip of which was perched a small white circular hat. When standing erect, these fungi look for all the world like the arousal of a subterranean beast that has erupted through the woodland floor.

We were fortunate to come across this stinkhorn when we did. Flies are immediately attracted by the smell. The stickiness of the collar transfers the spores to the creatures' legs, ensuring their dispersal. The great number of insects drawn to these fungi quickly remove the collar to leave the surface looking like honeycomb tripe. Not surprisingly, early naturalists gave this species the name Phallus impudicus. It does look brazenly phallic.

Medieval people called it "the pricke mushroom" and associated it with witchcraft. Its later name, stinkhorn, combined appearance and smell. The stench it exudes led some Victorians to claim it was the cause of cholera and other epidemics. There are more recent reports of people having their drains checked when the source of offence was in nearby woodland. Its appearance has brought a frown to many a face. Beatrix Potter, whose illustrations of fungi are delightful, found it so repugnant that she could never bring herself to paint it. The image it presents is so graphic that Charles Darwin's daughter Etty systematically removed it from their neighbourhood in case it corrupted the morals of her maids.

Elsewhere people were less squeamish. Stinkhorns were used medicinally to assist those suffering from epilepsy, rheumatism and gout, and – almost inevitably – as an aphrodisiac. They are edible. Few, though, would choose to bring the mature fungus into the house. It is best collected and eaten when first forming as an egg-shaped body just beneath the surface.